15 Jul
2001
15 Jul
'01
2:57 a.m.
Yes, I've had it happen. Over here, the mains is
usually fed from a
three-phase transformer, with every third house on the same phase. A few
years ago, I was watching the storm pass overhead (I like watching
lightning) when the house three along from me had a direct hit on their TV
aerial. There was a huge BANG!. The damage to their house was extensive:
part of the aerial was vapourised, a few other things melted, much of the
electrical equipment in the house was damaged in some way. Almost every
burglar alarm in the street went off, and two (on the same supply phase)
were wrecked.
A couple of years ago my brother-in-law had lightning strike
a large oak tree that is at the corner of his driveway. The
lightning went down through the roots, cracked the concrete and went
up into one of his cars that had been parked right at the corner of
the drive over the roots. It fried everything electrical in the car.
The strike also went up into the house as well, frying all the
electrical stuff such as the VCR's and TV. You could actually trace
the path of the electical charge because of the discoloration it
left. I think one way it got intot he house was through the invisble
dog fence he had installed, following the wire from the yard right
into the electrical wiring of the house.
Jeff
--
Collector of Classic Microcomputers and Video Game Systems:
Home of the TRS-80 Model 2000 FAQ File
http://www.geocities.com/siliconvalley/lakes/6757